CES 2008
The latest tech at the 2008 Consumer Electronics Show
Coolest Gagdet of CES Was and the $50 Winner Is…
We asked you to vote on what you thought the coolest gadget of CES 2008 was. Well the votes have been counted and I’m pleased to announce….. somebody cheated!
The FPS Gaming Vest had a commanding lead but out of nowhere the Computerized Chopper starting getting a load of votes. After checking logs, IP addresses and what not, we’ve got to discount at least 200 votes for the chopper, so the official Coolest Gadgets coolest gadget of CES 2008 is the FPS Gaming Vest, which just shows that we’re a bunch of masochists that like being punched when playing games.
Surprisingly we only had 10 comments on the post, one of which will win the $50 Amazon voucher and according to random.org the winner is…..
…Ian, so congratulations and I’ll be in touch about where to send the voucher to. Thanks again to everybody who voted and commented and whoever tried to rig the vote err why!
We do have more contests and give-aways planned this year and some other exciting news, so if you haven’t subscribed to our feed (
) yet there’s no time like the present.
Cambridge Soundworks i765
The popularity of the iPod naturally gave birth to the popularity of the iPod docking station. One of best that I saw at CES this year was the SoundWorks i765. The i765 is made by Cambridge, which is a company related to Creative, makers of the popular Zen PMP.
As an iPod dock and speaker, it definitely does its job with a built-in powered subwoofer that is “capable of filing any size room with rich, natural sound”. And even though I’m quoting from the press kit, I had an opportunity to verify this claim for myself. It’s true.
Continue reading » Cambridge Soundworks i765
Hitachi says 1.5 is here!
When I was at CES 2008 last week, there was a lot of hype over the Hitachi 1.5. In fact, Hitachi had these mobile billboards driven around all around the town proclaiming “1.5 is here”. I’ve always found ad campaigns like these a little awkward. They tend to assume that you know what the product is, which sort of defeats the purpose of advertising.
For those who do not know, 1.5 is a new display from Hitachi that is as thick as its name: 1.5 inches. Of course, the mere thickness (or in this case, thinness) is pretty impressive, but Hitachi packed even more features.
First, the 1.5 has a search engine that is designed for large-scale image and video archives. This program, also known as Similarity Based Image Retrieval System, can essentially use a picture to search for a bigger or similar picture.
Continue reading » Hitachi says 1.5 is here!
Coolest Gadget of CES 2008 - Open to Votes
We’ve had a fun time covering CES and in our ongoing quest of finding the coolest gadget we came across a few worthy contenders. So we need a bit help in deciding what was the Coolest Gadget of CES 2008. We’ve made a shortlist of our favourite 3, so please vote for one of those or add your own (ideally from one of the gadgets we covered rather than missed 
). If you leave a comment as well you’ll be in the running for a $50 Amazon or Think Geek voucher as our way of saying thanks (the winner will be drawn randomly 48 hours after this post when the voting ends).
So our short list of coolest CES gadgets is:
Computerized Chopper
The concept was to produce a product capable of operating under some pretty tough conditions and to show the potential of the current embedded technology. The result was the SwitchBack PC, a product which was already in development stages by Black Diamond. Read more »
FPS Gaming vest - Feel the Bullets
The FPS Gaming vest is a new gaming peripheral aimed at the first person shooter market. Looking like a flack jacket, the vest will actually “punch” you when you get hit. Not only that, but it punches where you get hit too. It doesn’t bruise, but you definitely know you’ve been fragged and where the shot came from. Read more »
Guitar Hero Air Guitar Rocker
Air Guitar Rocker is officially licensed with Guitar Hero but you don’t need to own Guitar Hero to play. Simply wear the supplied ‘heavy metal’ belt buckle, attach it to the included processor thingie and you’re good to go. Play your air guitar by strumming the plectrum in front of your groin the belt buckle. Read more (and watch the video) »
Please let us know what you think, other suggestions are more than welcome.
If you are reading this via our feed you’ll have to visit the site to vote. Thanks and good luck in the draw.
WYWH.mobi Gives You Postcards from the Cell Phone
The picture to the left is simply a scan of a postcard that I received in the mail, and there are several things that make this picture special.
The first thing is that it depicts a handsome blogger who visited CES 2008 in Las Vegas, and is holding up a genuine Las Vegas napkin as “proof that I was here”.
The second thing is that the postcard is made from a picture from a cell phone. However, there was no work downloading the picture to a PC, or taking the time to print it out with a caption. All that it took was sending the picture from a cell phone to WYWH.mobi, and then the postcard was printed elsewhere and sent to its destination.
Continue reading » WYWH.mobi Gives You Postcards from the Cell Phone
iRiver SPINN MP4 Player
After CES, I saw a lot of coverage on iRiver’s new line of products, but I was surprised that there was little on the new SPINN MP4 Player. Perhaps this was due to the SPINN being under a glass cage at the booth. Unfortunately, I do not know if they ever took the player out of its display case at any time during the Expo.
Therefore, I wasn’t able to see the biggest selling point on what iRiver calls its flagship model. I would have liked to see the easy-to-use SPINN System Toggle Wheel, which I was told uses 3-D technology for a truly unique interface.
Continue reading » iRiver SPINN MP4 Player
Computerized Chopper
Look’s like I’m having a bit of a session on bikes at the moment and the coolest I’ve found so far has to be the operational concept chopper produced in collaboration between Intel and Orange County Choppers with just a little help from Black Diamond. The concept was to produce a product capable of operating under some pretty tough conditions and to show the potential of the current embedded technology. The result was the SwitchBack PC, a product which was already in development stages by Black Diamond. They just needed to make it dirt, weather, shock and vibration proof (easy peasy) and ensure it was also ultra-mobile. And what better way to demonstrate all of this by putting it into a motorcycle.
Continue reading » Computerized Chopper
Invisible Shield by ZAGG Inc.
All right, I believe this will be my last CES 2008 related story. I mean, it really is getting kind of old.
Basically, one of my last experiences plays out like this: I was walking along, minding a lot of other booth’s business, when some representative from ZAGG Inc. shows me the Invisible Shield.
The Invisible Shield is essentially glorified cellophane tape, but it is designed to protect cell phones and other mobile devices, such as this iPod in the photo, from nicks and scratches.
How well does it work? Well, I admire the salesperson’s demonstration. He had a Tupperware container filled with screws, and he put his own phone in there. Then he shook it up for a while, and there was not a scratch on it.
I thought that was pretty impressive, so I asked them it can protect touch screens, such as the iPhone. They said it was perfect for it, and it was even good for removing smudges. All someone had to do was wipe the device coated with Invisible Shield on their sleeve, and it removes prints and smudges perfectly.
Continue reading » Invisible Shield by ZAGG Inc.
